Harvard Responds to Journal Pricing

Thanks for posting this. This seems like a big step forward in the shift to Open Access.

I’m wondering what people are doing on their campuses around this issue? I mentioned including something about OA in a departmental policy document recently and my suggestion was met with derision by fellow faculty who had mistakenly confused open access with a lack of peer-review and prestige. Just wondering what other folks are doing to counter this misperception and build momentum for OA?

That misunderstanding is all too common, in my experience. I think the antidote is just continued education about OA. Some OA journals, esp. in the sciences, have very high impact factors and great reputations, e.g. PLoS One (though of course some disciplines are more aware of OA than others).

There’s also this great statement by the Faculty Senate at Virginia Commonwealth U that not only supports OA but actually urges T+P committees to give *more* weight to OA publications: http://www.library.vcu.edu/blog/news/2010/12/vcu-faculty-senate-passes-reso.html

To my knowledge there are events going on at the individual colleges, some around Open Access Week which is an annual event in October. Many of the library faculty are involved along with faculty and grad students in other departments. This group is a good place to share ideas for programs, events, and strategies, as is our monthly All-CUNY OA Meetup (this month scheduled for 4/26 at 3pm!).

Thanks, Maura. The Va Commonwealth U link is super helpful as we’re drafting language around tenure and promotion in my department now. Sorry I have a scheduling conflict and can’t make this OA Meetup, but will try to make another soon.

I’ll be there on Thursday. I would like to bring to the discussion the possibility of including our OA journals into EBSCO data bases, we have had some back and forth with them. I’ll be glad to see your views on this issue.